Dreams Captured in Steel

Summer Hills

—Photos by Katy Brown, Davis, CA

DRY SPELL
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA
 
Water receded
whales were beached
tempers flared
contracts were breeched

the morning paper
stiffened with starch
was tossed onto the porch
beside potted plants parched

it got so dry that even
the finest of parchment
turned to kindle, becoming
a torch of evil intent

an army of flames
began their ruinous march
shooting blazing hot needles
from burning branches of larch

volunteers afoot
fanned out wide in their search
for signs of any life
‘neath fallen embers of birch

have we failed to avert the
known threat of global warming,
or is this just a rude reminder
that Hellfire is always swarming?

___________________

WORDS HOLDING SECRETS
—Caschwa

I had a question
Googled it, found the answer
which is fading fast

*** ***

It’s not that I don’t
remember what you said, I
wasn’t listening

*** ***

They asked me if I
was ever in a coma,
I guess I blanked out

*** ***

If you are going
to carry a flame, do not
forget the candle

*** ***

Buzzed, I put towels
in the dehydrator and
fruit in the dryer

*** ***

Bitten by just the
fear of a rattlesnake’s bite,
I stay my distance

*** ***

Mar a Lago calls
all matters of state can wait
bring me some good cake

 Portrait

ANOTHER ROUND
—Caschwa

Aren’t those medieval
war colors we salute to
celebrate freedom?

*** ***

Just ate some food that
brings about keen drowsiness
please, you take the wheel

*** ***
Basking sweetly in
a hammock of poetry
nothing touching earth,

save a little batch
of snickering excuses,
posed as cultured verse

*** ***
Who said each poem
needs a separate title?
Well, let them add one

I’m singularly
uninformed about most things,
that’s all I will say

___________________

EXTRA HAIKUS
—Caschwa

THE DONALD

A bull elephant
more power than anyone
no self discipline

*** ***

JAMES LEE

Poet Laureate
On September eleven
We welcome his words

*** ***

RACHEL

MSNBC
sitting at your tea table
explaining the news

*** ***

HUH?

Cannot remember
the event of being born
just the date, I think

*** ***

GOSH!

Every single
second helping puts inches
where they’re not helping

*** ***

TIP

A share of stock in
Paradise beats a pair of
socks at any price

 Pillar

MUSCLE CARS
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA

Older dreams
Captured in steel
Running on rubber
Rolling on wheels.

Purring mufflers hum


The sounds of what may come

Rolling out at any speed!
Driven by the shade


Of sundown


On a steering wheel. 

 Water Tower

TARIFF SEASON: START HOLIDAY
ENGINES NOW
—Rhony Bhopla, Sacramento, CA

President Tariff Bulldozer disguises his personal bigoted
agenda under the veil of protecting Intellectual Property.

IP, America’s creation of mind, intellect, is being stolen—
that is a fact. Chaos: Trump tariffs engulf China goods.

With a grimace and the confidence of an ego-pleaser,
the President is fueled by money, sex, and power. 

A target swirls on America’s Heartland, soy bean farmers
will lose, even when kissed with presidential promise of money.

Soya is the number one export to China, U.S. farmers
wait to see how far Trump goes, as he evokes farcical
claims: WTO can be bought by security fears.

Surrounded by his Yes-men he makes vulnerable
a giant loophole in the World Trade Organization
and attacks the longevity of the Trade Act of 1974.

Start the holiday engines now, hoarding of warehouse
goods is today’s sign that America, you are about to lose.

 Mysterious Formation

DAY AFTER DAY THE UV INDEX REACHES NINE
—Michael H. Brownstein, Chicago, IL
 
I came up the stairs
so tired my eyes
saw crooked, double
vision/glowing
cataracts—and I looked
for the door
where a door once had been
but now no door,
no doorway,
no indentation in brick
and stone, mortar
and glass.
I looked
and could not find
a way out. 

 B Brick

DUSK FALLS OVER THE RUINS NEARBY
—Michael H. Brownstein
 
everyone a cloud
old hat and tomato paste

tomorrow I’ll eat two oranges,
two pears, whatever my teeth desire

but now a time for rest
the evening sky a thickening turquoise

bright lit clouds bunching to the west
the air a hollow bowl of beans

____________________

Today’s LittleNip:
 
CALENDAR IDEA
—Caschwa

If that cluster of squares on
one calendar page foments
confusion and doubt,
add a blank sheet to
record senior moments
then treat yourself to a stout.

____________________

Our thanks for the labor of today’s fine poets, and for Photographer Katy Brown's angles and shapes! Kitchen Newcomer Joseph Nolan from Stockton is an active member of the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Association and Sacramento Poetry Center. He has been published in Sacramento Voices, 2017, and will be again in 2018, and also in Poetry Now and Brevities, Joyce Odam’s mini-mag. Don’t be a stranger, Joseph!

Join the poets at Sacramento Poetry Center tonight to hear Todd Boyd and Kai Sable (plus open mic) at a special time of 6-8pm. It’s the Second Annual Labor Day reading, so bring your poem or 5-min. prose piece about work or labor, and wear your Rosie R t-shirt, union shirt, cap, or pin. That's at Sac. Poetry Center, 25th & R Sts., Sac., 6-8pm.

Poetry Off-the-Shelves meets on Tuesday at the El Dorado Hills Library, 5-7pm. Then, on Thursday, Poetic Justice II presents Terry Moore and others at Laughs Unlimited in Old Sac., 8:30-10pm. Also on Thursday, Poetry Unplugged at Luna’s Cafe features readers and open mic, 8pm. And Poetry in Davis presents Cyrus Armajani with MK Chavez plus open mic at the John Natsoulas Gallery, also 8pm.

Drop in at Sac. Poetry Center Gallery on Saturday, 5-8pm, for their Second Sat. Art Reception for the City of Trees Invitational, featuring artwork from local artists to benefit Sac. Tree Foundation. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.

—Medusa

 Labor Day, 2018
—Photo by Katy Brown
Celebrate the poetry of dreams captured!

Photos in this column can be enlarged by clicking on them once,
then click on the X in the top right corner to come back
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